Byram, Murphy continue coaching legacy of fathers

August 14, 2002|By Mike Dunn

Byram and Murphy played together, and now they're coaching together. Byram, a recent graduate of Alma College, where he played goalkeeper for four years and helped the team to two straight MIAA championships and three straight appearances in the NCAA playoffs, has been hired by Gaylord to teach history and to be the head coach of the Blue Devil soccer team. Murphy, who went on to play and coach intramural soccer while attending Central Michigan University, is his assistant coach.

The former high school teammates also share another bond. Their fathers coached together for many years.

Steve Byram, who passed away quite suddenly in the spring, and George Murphy most recently coached the NMC United U-17 girls soccer team together. The two men, who shared a common vision and worked very well together, helped to sharpen the skills and refine the talents of a generation of boys and girls who came up through the ranks of the Gaylord AYSO program.

Advertisement

Sean and Ian view this season at Gaylord as an opportunity to accept the coaching mantle from their fathers and begin to pass on to others the wealth of knowledge that they have acquired on the soccer field.

"This is something that means a lot to both of us," Murphy said following Gaylord's opening practice session on the high school grounds Monday morning. "Our fathers coached together for years and now we have the chance to coach together and continue that legacy."

Byram is inheriting a program from coach Christian Janssens that is sound on fundamentals but short on upperclassmen and varsity experience. Byram and Murphy have only four seniors on the 2002 roster: Ryan Pray, Nick Powell, Pat Gale and Andrew Horath. This from a team that won a handful of games a year ago and plays in the very tough Big North Conference.

"The main goal is to build a program," Byram said on Monday. "We want to model the soccer program after coach (Will) Cleaver's football program. There's a lot of interest in Gaylord football, not just because of the success of the varsity the past two years but also because they have a lot of kids playing football at the youth level.

"We want to get the kids involved with soccer when they're young and grow the high school program by keeping them involved. We don't see ourselves in competition with Little League football. We don't have to draw from the football kids. There's more than enough kids to play both sports at the youth level."

Murphy cited the fact that soccer is the most popular youth sport in the country. "If soccer's the number one sport, then there's no reason why a lot of youth from the Gaylord area won't want to play it," he said.

Short-term goals include getting the athletes who will be playing soccer for Gaylord this season into quality physical condition and beginning to teach them Byram's style. Byram favors the style of the English National Team, playing possession soccer and advancing the ball down the wings to create scoring opportunities in front with crossing passes. He will know more about the preparedness of his team and its areas of stength and weakness after the Blue Devils play in three scheduled scrimmages next week.